Spurts 0-1 Arsenal: By the Numbers

13 – Clean sheets for Arsenal this season12 – Clean sheets for Spers4 – Times Arsenal have failed to score this season9 – Failed to score for Spers2 – Number of times Spers failed to score against Arsenal this season26 – Millions in Pounds Sterling Spers paid for Soldildo1 – Goals Soldado has scored from open play this season2 – Goals Tomas Rosicky has scored against Tottenham this season (including the 2-0 win in the FA Cup)3 – Career goals Tomas Rosicky has scored against Spers3 – Number of times Arsenal have won the match when Rosicky scores against Tottenham (2-0 FAC, 5-2, 1-0)20 – Number of times Arsenal have scored first in a League match this season18 – Number of times Arsenal have won when they scored first in a League match this season1 – Number of times Arsenal have lost when they score first (Aston Villa)

Defense Wins Championships

20 – Dribbles attempted by Spers9 – Successful dribbles by Spers2 – Successful dribbles by Spers in the Arsenal final 1/3 (of 13 attempted)30 – Tackles attempted by Arsenal today (31 is Arsenal’s season average)21 – Successful tackles by Arsenal today (14 won is Arsenal’s season average)15 – Tackles won by Arsenal in their own final third (of 17 attempted)4 – Tackles won by each of Cazorla and Sagna (8 total)¹8 – Ball recoveries by Cazorla (second on Arsenal behind Arteta’s 10)*64 – Clearances by Arsenal today. The most so far this season by Arsenal — previous high was the 1-0 win over Newcastle where we cleared the ball 57 times33 – Clearances per game Arsenal averaged this season before today37 – Headed clearances by Arsenal today20 – Total clearances by Per Mertesacker¹17 – Headed clearances by Per Mertesacker. Season high, his previous high was 12 in the 1-0 win over Newcastle46 – Percent of Arsenal’s headed clearances won by Mertesacker7/8 – Aerial duels won by Per Mertesacker¹5/15 – Aerial duels won by Adebayor²11 – Blocks by Arsenal today. Most so far this season by Arsenal — previous high was 6 in the 3-1 win over Sunderland2.4 – Blocks per game Arsenal averaged this season before today3 – Blocks each by Mertesacker and Arteta (6 total)¹2 – Blocks by Koscielny3 – Errors by Szczesny before today (Premier League play only, remember.)2 – Flaps by Szczesny today that nearly gifted them a goal but for a huge block by Koscielny31 – Interceptions by Arsenal today. The most so far this season — previous high was 24 in the 1-1 draw with Everton5 – Interceptions by Oxlade Chamberlain¹18 – Interceptions by Arsenal’s midfield (Ox, Arteta, Rosicky, Flamini, and Cazorla)17 – Shots that Spers took today12 – Shots that Spers took today from the 2.5% conversion area (at least 18 yards out)1 – Selfie taken by Wojciech Szczesny after the match at Wet Fart Lane

Giroud v. Adebayor

Koscielny or Rosicky for Man of the Match?

Koz:
Completed 96% of his passes, made 15 clearances, was 3/3 in tackles (including a last man tackle), had 2 interceptions, blocked 2 shots (including the game saving block), completed 1 dribble, created a shot for a teammate and won 3/6 aerial duels.

Rosicky:
Completed 90% of his passes (Arsenal only averaged 75% today), led Arsenal with 10/11 passes in the Tottenham final third (nearly 25% of Arsenal’s total passes there), created 2 shots for teammates, had 3 interceptions, had a block, was dispossessed twice but had 0 turnovers, and scored the winning goal.

Mertesacker maybe?
Led all players with 20 clearances, 17 of them were headed, lead all players and won 7/8 aerial duels — mostly against Haterbayor, and led all players with 3 blocks.

@7amkickoff
*Cazorla had a very good defensive game today, tackling and picking up loose balls

To be fair it’s a little easier to remember a single moment rather than a 90 minute performance. But hot damn what a goal it was indeed. I woke up to watch (live in US) in the 4th minute saw we were already leading and nearly shit myself when they finally showed a replay of the goal. Frickin’ laser beam

The best set of numbers are spurs 0 arsenal 1. Sherwood was going on about how they outplayed us but all they did was huffing and puffing towards the goal. Their best chance came from Schezney’s mishandling of the ball. Anyway, the defence was awesome and I think sagna did well to keep his cool. I would have thrown the ball back into Sherwood’s face.

I think Tottenham had got themselves another undercooked manager.

Next game is vital, if we could win that then all hell would break loose.

Great 3 points today. I would just like to say thanks to everybody on here for their enthusiasm and humour as I am leaving for my military service and won’t be posting anymore on this excellent blog which is the best about Arsenal I have read. Thanks from Sweden COYG!

I hear a lot of people saying that the only way we can win the title is if we win all of our remaining games. All i say is play out hearts out till the end and see where we end up. I don’t believe any one team is going to win out for the remainder of the season. it’s still all to play for in my opinion. After the city game it’s us that have the ‘easiest’ run in until the end. keep faith my fellow GOONERS!!

Good digestive feeds!
BUT (a need to digress) ,,,,Giroud is just not the guy up front for Arsenal.
He falls almost in every game, not for winning balls or penalties for that matter)!
Hopefully Wenger brings a more lethal goal scoring machine and give Joel Campbell his debut next season!
Then and only then can we see Ozil’s class!!

Adebayor created the better chances for his team mates and his shots were by and far more dangerous 9even if they were not all entirely by design)

Giroud is a decent striker for us but we lack the out let up front with someone who can hold the ball with more technical ability and operate at pace on his own without quite as much support that Giroud needs.

When Henry (or RVP) was with us, there was an instant threat when he received the ball bc he was capable of beating a man or two (or four) with his pace AND quickness of thought. This would preoccupy them with commiting at least two players to shackle the danger and thereby take out one player for them going forward.

Don’t feel we have quite the same ability on the apex at the moment and we must address this for sure in the summer with one of Mandzukic, Benzema, Falcao or Costa.

Did you watch the Man U match ?? RVP was for most of the game like a fish out of water. He had 2 chances and put them in the side netting. Yes Giroud did need some help yesterday because we had a depleated midfield of runners No Ozil No Wallcott No Wilshire No Ramsey and Santi had to work in defence . So the proffesor had to play a defenfive game which they did brilliantly, if all those players had been availabe I could have seen us winning by 3,4 or 5 goals, but with injuries you have to adjust with what you have.

Shots that don’t end up with a goal are the very definition of failure. All of Adebuywhore’s shots were crap as they didn’t go in.

Also, our attacks were breaking down long before they reached the forward areas. Henry and/or RVP would have been starved of service and done nothing of an offensive nature for much of the game just as Giroud was.

I know a lot of writers will say we played poor today but that dosnt tell the whole picture.
In fact I think we played great today and won a vital 3 points ( if it had been Manure every man and his dog would have heeped praise on them as being to win ugly) I all think that it is good test for our next game against Chelsea which will be a similar game. We won ugly the backs and midfield played their socks off, and Giroud kept 2 defenders busy with all his running around, also the Ox should have scored at least 1or 2 in which case the game would have been over before half time, and Rosicky was great and not just the Thunderbolt he let fly after just a minute. Well done lads play like this next time and we might just really put the mockers on our Portuguise friends title hope,and boost ours at the same time.

Tbh,even if we dont win anything this season,i am very proud of this team and have nothing significant to complain about.the way they gel with the fans,the way flamini n mer showing leadership,the way kos and mer worked tgt,even if giroud is pretty much useless half the time upfront; he still gets the goals now and then,the way everyone signed a new contract(pretty sure sagna will do so as well) and the way arsene manage to combine all these elements tgt.this just shows how much commitment this entire team has to prove something wrong to the fans and the world.COYG u have done us so proud alrdy this season!and rozza deserve a testimonial even if he decides to go in the future!guy shits on tottenham every chance he got ffs!

How does this Rosicky strike compare with the one he scored against Hamburg in 06-07? I rate that one higher than this one, but only slightly. What both goals show is his technique and skill on the ball. Pity he doesn’t try many more shots from distance. Maybe we can have a resolution which mandates Rosicky to shoot from distance a minimum of 3 times every game. When he scored against the USA, I said to my wife (then girlfriend) that this is what Arsene has signed him up for!!!

On a side note, Blogs, how about setting up a competition to name the kind of screamer goal that Rosicky scored? I would propose “Thunderb*st*rd” (not my own thinking, flinched it from football365.com mailbox).

could everyone trying to criticise giroud not mention henry. There is and will not be another striker like henry. Not Costa, Ibra, Benzema, lewi, Hunter, and etc……. There shouldnt even be a mention of him when we are discussing the present. Giroud as a striker should never be critisized for not being on henry’s level, hell,do not critisize him for what he has never been,and be objective with your criticism, if you dont like him as a person,do not put him down as a player. Arsenal have in recent years shown they can adapt to the departure or injury of any player (be it fabregas,RVP,Nasri,Clichy,Adebayor,Song) so no player is irreplaceable in our team, he is important,but not irreplaceable. But what I know is Giroud is everything most arsenal fans wanted 2 seasons ago and he is delivering on every front that he was brought in to deliver. He has more goals than Remy (overrated) or Benteke (Felaini 2.0), so nobody mention such nonsense again….if you want an improvement on Giroud….do your research first.

I Agree one should not attack him as a person because of poor performance. But it must be allowed to critisize him when he is slacking and not putting in the effort. He is one of the most inconsistent players that i can remember have ever played for Arsenal. But if he could become more consistent, he would be an awesome striker.

But dont know where you get it from that he was everything we dreamt of when he first came to Arsenal. A striker that played most of his career in french Ligue 2 and had 1 decent season on top Level for Montpellier with 21 goals. Not what i would call a dream come true, but i would Agree he was a good signing, albeit not the stuff of dreams. (Well that would depend on the dream, and your sex and/or orientation ofcourse :p)

If we look at his price tag though, he was not a 40, 30 or Even a 20 million signing, but a bargain 10mill signing, and i would definetely Agree that he is delivering what could be expected from a 10mill signing, perhaps Even exceeding expectations.

But his stats are not very good. 40% shot accuracy and a convertion of chances at around 15% or so. 67% pass accuracy, and he Wins 47% of the duels he goes in to, and he creates on average 1 chance Per game for his team mates. Not world class performance by any means, but i Guess that is what 10 million buy’s you today. And as i Said, can we really expect more?

We Could have done alot worse though. Soldado a much more proven top class striker with 25, 27 and 30 goals each season the last 3 Seasons in La Liga, a higher Level than Ligue 1aswell, and whom cost 26million is doing alot worse over at Spurs. Hoho

But in the end, we want to challenge for titles, and to do that we need world class players. Giroud is no doubt a good player, and i think he could do a very good job for Lyon, Montpellier, Newcastle, Stoke or the Valencia’s of this World etc. But i do not think he has the quality needed to play for the Arsenal, Money City, Barcelona, Dortmund, Bayern, Ch£l$ea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, PSG, Milan or Juventus of this World. In short not good enough to play for the best teams in the world, which is the category we AIM to be in.

But as i Said, Giroud is delivering what could be expected from a striker with his reputation and price tag, but to push on up amongst the best Clubs in the world, i do not think he is the right player to spearhead our attack. He might have been if he was more consistent, but he is not.

You overlook everything that Giroud does that we were in need of when you dismiss him with “A striker that played most of his career in french Ligue 2 and had 1 decent season on top Level for Montpellier with 21 goals.” You then go on to complain that he didn’t cost enough to be any good. Shallow stuff, even if it did take you seven paragraphs of damning him with (extremely) faint praise.

We may need a world class striker but when we bought Giroud, and last summer also, there were NO world class strikers genuinely interested in joining us. You have to be a world class team BEFORE world class strikers will consider joing you. We aren’t there yet.

If we win the FA Cup it will help as world class strikers will no longer think of us as a team that has won nothing for 8 years, but to really attract the strikers you demand we are going to have to win the Premier League THIS SEASON. Otherwise all bets are off for another year. We are in competition with a dozen “Citehs and Chelseas” across Europe for the best strikers (Barca, RM, PSG, Bayern M. Lyon, Monaco etc etc), and we are behind all of them in player’s minds as we are also-rans in terms of trophies and/or wages too. Granted we have Wenger and he can draw the occasional star, but unless we are Champions we will be stuck with shopping for “competent” strikers this summer.

you are right on every front, every player not putting in effort should be criticised. But doing it based on what he lacks like pace,ability to dribble and etc is wrong. Not long ago people were asking for a big striker at arsenal along with a big midfielder,we got Giroud who for me is a very good player,even though there are other better players out there better than him. Your criticism is fair in that his consistency is something he can improve, whats not fair is blaming him for his lack of pace. I just dont like people saying we need a striker like henry…..there are none…hell there is a shortage of strikers better than Giroud who are up for sale…the best we can get is an alternative to him.

27. Number of brain farts by Timmy. Best one was when he was asked the reason for throwing his ‘gillet’ to the ground. He said he couldn’t remember. Hmmmm. Maybe it’s me, but if you’re the manager you should try and remember what it is that your team are doing incorrectly so you can…er…change it?